Good Bye, Peoria

 Ben had a happy hour at EastPort Marina Cantina to say good bye to his co-workers.

  Abigail was thrilled about the breeze off the river.

Central Illinois Dermatology had a taco salad lunch on my last day. I will miss my nurse friends, Mary, Lyla, Peggy, Jan, Barb, and Donna. 

(no picture)

 

Perhaps the hardest good bye was to Niki.

We found her from a flyer, and she has been more than we could have ever asked for in a babysitter. 

She has loved them up since each of them were just 6 weeks old.

Lydia might especially miss getting her nails done with the other little girl there.

Good bye, Redeemer. We'll miss the friends, pastors, nursery staff, and choir there.

Good bye, Rothmere House, that for just a short time has served as our home. No offense, but I don't think we'll miss all that yard work and the creek...the black raspberry bushes, maybe.

We've been saying so many good byes that this morning Lydia was saying "bub bye" to her rice box and trees, adding, "I love you" and a smooch.

Official moving week is September 10-14. Then it will be, Hello, Oak Creek!

the Little One

 My sweet Abigail is my roly poly butterball, but technically she's the little one of the bunch.

 I've had to put most of her toys in the basement, but the playmat is still out in her room. She loves grabbing her toys and feet and looking around.

 

 She's the little sister and loving it. Big sister Lydia watches over her and just might be better at getting her to laugh than I am. 

But I know that kisses around her neck never fails.

John's Lake

 A good summer time was had at John's Lake this past weekend involving lake, sun, sand, tents, pontoon rides, skiing, swimming, fireworks, food, & family.
Lydia loved the sandy beach... I think we took a big hunk of it home with us in Lydia's hair.

We have a girl for each age, 0-5. 

Natalie (5), Aaliyah (1), Audrey (3), Abigail (0), Lydia (2), & Ava (4).

 Great Grandma Edna was there on Saturday and had all 8 great-grandkids there.

I can't not mention the "The Schmidt Triathalon."

Ryan and Brett worked out the rules, and the pregnant ladies judged and kept score.  This second heat is lined up telling Ryan they're ready for the first leg, the bag toss.

The second leg was "noodle biking" to the raft and back. Hands had to stay above water.

Then you spun around your noodle 10 times and stumbled to the slip'n'slide. Many fell. Chuck, John, and Angela pictured here are exhausted! It's was a grueling feat.

House Hunting

Jacob & Lydia

Aunt Kaitlyn & Lydia

Gma Jan, Kinsey & Lydia

While Lydia found some fun at Gma Jan & Gpa Bruce's house,

Ben, Abigail, and I found a new home for us:

It was slim pickings for houses in the southern area of Milwaukee County due to people being skittish about putting their house on the market and many people moving to the area with CAT. But that's okay because there just had to be one good house, and we found it! Now builders haven't been building spec houses since the banks won't give them loans anymore, but it's like a spec house to us. This house was being built for someone else, but recently their financing fell through, and then the builders put it up for sale. How fortunate for us since we won't have to wait nine months for it, yet we are coming in at a point where we can make lots of selections (but not as many as if we were building a new house for us--I've always thought that would be too stressful), and it's new! Excellent lot, new elementary school in the subdivision, 10 minute commute for Ben, 3 miles from Lake Michigan beach (Bender Beach)! Looking forward to closing September 5th!

On the Peoria side of things, we had our first successful open house (15 couples came through) and a second showing tomorrow.

Try to keep up

4 months

Don't blink because they grow up fast and you might miss it. Abigail is now 4 months old. 13 # 14 oz, 25 in. She's running 50th percentile stats. Got all her vaccines again today. Probably going to wait another month or two before starting with the fun of introducing baby food. I do look forward to it though!

In the meantime, Lydia's 2 yrs, 5 months and getting reading for camping this weekend at Great Uncle John's cottage. Dad helped make this tent. People keep telling me Lydia's "a doll." Potty training is spotty. Not taking it seriously now that we're moving.

That brings me to our next update: We are relocating to Oak Creek, WI! Ben got promoted with Caterpillar (he's a rock star!) Oak Creek is just south of Milwaukee so we'll be close to my side of the family; and though we're moving farther from Ben's side, it's only 3 hours away. We're excited! 

Not so exciting, is my mom's upcoming open heart surgery (July 13). Only recently found out that her mitral valve is in desperate need of repair. Surgery and recovery will be tough, but then she should feel better than ever, not fatigued. Send her some love.